31 Days / 31 Characters - The RED RIDER

This character has one of the strangest origins of any I've come up with. 

When I was 6 years old - maybe 7 or 8 - I got a Tank Top shirt as a gift that I loved like no other. It was a white shirt with a character on it in a red outfit on a red motorcycle and he looked awesome. He was a mix of superhero and Evel Knievel and I needed to know who he was.

The truth of course is he was no one. It was just a 1970s graphic but as I was already a fan of comics, Star Trek, and all of that, I was certain he was someone. My older cousin, who was well known to tease me and make up stories to tell my naive younger self, told me who he was. He was called, 'The Red Rider'.

That's all I got and my imagination went wild. I envisioned a mysterious, daredevil motorcyclist who showed up from time to time, seemingly out of nowhere, to help those in need before disappearing once more.

Now, what to do with that...

Character: The Red Rider

Player: Non-Player Character

System(s): Boot Hill, 1st Edition - Seriously modified.

Later Cyberpunk 2020, Champions, and Mutants and Masterminds. 

 

Campaign(s): The Legend of Boot Hill, Champions: The Age of Heroes, The Black Neon Memoirs, and Dynamos Unlimited.

Gamemaster(s): Adam Dickstein and William Corpening

Circa: First created and appeared around 1979. Later appearances in 1986, 1990, 2003...

Origins: I've only ever run one long term Wild West game and it was so good, such a perfect execution of what I was going for, that I've never been able to do it again. Well, more accurately I've never tried to do it again. I've run one-shots, even a string of them but never another dedicated campaign. How could I top 'The Legend of Boot Hill'? 

One element that made it special was the inclusion of possibly supernatural elements that were kept vague and unquantified. No one was really sure if magic was real or if it was just fantasy and superstition. Additionally, if it was real, what was its true nature? A big part of that was the late but powerful inclusion of The Red Rider, a seriously spooky character inspired by the fellow from my shirt.

Backstory: The Red Rider's backstory is completely unknown, largely because I never made one. Throughout his various appearances the Red Rider's in-continuity origins have simply not come up. The sense of mystery around the character is the key to what makes him interesting and special. He works without a background. 

Overview:  During the aforementioned Wild West campaign, the PCs tried to save a stagecoach being hijacked by a group of bandits. The heroes rode off after the bandits while the town Deputy and a posse chased the heroes, sure that they were the criminals trying to rob the stagecoach. If this sounds a little like the situation Frankie the Ferret found himself in it's because this chase scene inspired that one. I love a good multi-faction chase. 

The PCs stalled the law, got ahead, and reached the bandits just in time. A shoot out and some fisticuffs - not to mention some fancy horse ridin' - enabled the party to get to the stagecoach as it careened round a treacherous mountain turn, just short of falling off a cliff. Two of the PCs had been injured or delayed and two of the bandits had hoped atop the stagecoach. The coach driver had been thrown to his death and one of the desperados had the horse's reins. As The Masked Cowboy and The Medicine Man tried desperately to catch up, a cloud of red dust kicked up in the distance. The sound of hooves striking the ground like thunder echoed around them.

"You can make out a rider and his horse heading in your direction. His path is diagonal to intercept the coach it seems. His horse is a dark cinnamon color. His pants are a deep maroon or brick red, caked with clay and...perhaps blood? Red blotches stain his shirt. His hat matches the horse and a bandana covers his face...not like the bandits but more completely, like a mask. Two holes are cut in it for his eyes."

This mysterious man rides up to the stagecoach, leaps off his horse, and motions to The Masked Cowboy to get the passengers out of the vehicle. With some help from his Shaman friend he manages to do so, fighting one of the two coach robbers while their unknown ally tussles with the other. Finally, the criminal upfront shoots the stranger in the chest and he slumps over. The Masked Cowboy spins and shoots the crook, who falls off the stagecoach and goes over the cliff. Placing the passengers on his and The Masked Cowboys horses, the Medicine Man moves away from the edge of the deadly mountain path. The Masked Cowboy turns the horses and then releases them, enabling them to run free to safety. Unfortunately, momentum is going to carry the heroic Cowboy to his death...

Just then, The Masked Cowboy is grabbed and tossed from the driver's seat by a pair of hands possessing incredible strength and moving quick as lightning. As he awkwardly landed on his horse, he saw the mystery man sitting back up and nodding to him as the blood caked rider, the stagecoach, and the rider's horse all went over the cliff. 

Later, after recounting the events with locals in the town saloon, an old prospector said, "Ah, so you seen him too. That there was The Red Rider."

Mask of The Red Rider

The Highlights:

The Red Rider would appear in the Boot Hill campaign once more in the next-to-last episode. He appears in a nearby canyon to aid The Masked Cowboy in tracking down the campaign's Big Bad, an evil Rail Baron responsible for numerous deaths and hardships throughout the game. Once more The Rider is shot but when The Masked Cowboy returns to the spot where the body fell sometime later...it's gone. 

Some years of real time later, during a campaign of Cyberpunk 2020, as the PCs hunt down their Corporate Exec target on the highway between two cities, they are informed of an urban legend...a motorcycle riding vigilante Nomad who takes out criminals from the city traveling on 'his stretch of road'. Sure enough the group is forced to race against time to capture the Corp before the biker gets him. As I described the cyclist, with his crimson cycle and scarlet helmet, one of the players who'd been a PC in the Boot Hill game screamed - yes, he actually screamed - "Holy S***! It's the F***ing Red Rider!". Just as in the previous campaign the Red Rider took severe damage, appeared to slump over his bike, then he rose back to life seconds before he crashed and then rode away. 

I told the story of the Red Rider to my friend and fellow gamemaster William Corpening, who ran the greatest game of Champions I was ever in (see Champions: Age of Heroes and Age of Chaos on this site). He loved the idea so much he secretly built a Red Rider in Champions (he didn't tell me). Many months later when our Champions PCs toured the United States to meet different Superheroes across the country, the Red Rider appeared to team up with us somewhere between Nevada and Oregon. 

I would use this version of him myself - red Harley Davidson, crimson leather outfit, and ruby metallic helmet - in sessions of Champions set in Will's universe and in my own Mutants and Masterminds games. While he is never encountered (I never got a chance to run a planned appearance), he is mentioned in a World of Darkness campaign I ran as well.

Game Info:

There is no surviving (pun intended) Character Sheet for the Red Rider and in point of fact, he never had one in his original appearance. He is more of a Plot Device and a tool for injecting setting color then he is a full-on character. That said, I absolutely love him. 

His abilities are generally undefined but there are some interesting consistent elements. He appears to be unkillable, likely because he is already dead. Some sort of zombie, ghost, or other supernatural entity, he is known to be a solid being and does bleed when shot or stabbed. It usually takes him a couple of minutes at most to recover from minor wounds but much longer for more egregious injuries. 

He originally carried two copper-plated revolvers but subsequent versions of him over the ages have been equipped with a wide variety of weaponry. He is physically stronger and faster than a normal person, with limitless endurance except when damaged. Originally he did not speak, using only grunts and hand signals to communicate when it was necessary. More modern and future appearances have him speaking with an economy of words, his voice deep, low, and gravely. 

His horse or motorcycle, called 'Blood', appears to be as abnormal as its rider. Both are red in color, with the beast a dark cinnamon red and the cycle a deep red. Specifics of the horse and motorcycle vary. Notable are the horse's eyes which usually appear similar to those of a shark. Sometimes they are described as glowing red in the dark. Both animal and machine can travel much faster than normal for their respective modes of transportation but never visibly go supernaturally quick. No, it seems they can only do that when not being directly observed. 

Legacy: I promise you the world of Tabletop RPG gaming has not seen the last of The Red Rider. He is out there somewhere and he'll definitely be back. 

Come back soon and meet another supernatural savior, though he'd never call himself that. If this private eye is on the case, you've got nothing to fear but the bad guys sure do. Meet SHADE of the Wardens - Death can't keep a good detective down..

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Barking Alien 

RPGaDay Challenge 2020 - RIDE

Ride.

Here is another example of a prompt that should have appeared much, much earlier. I had an idea for it right away but my overall excitement for this year's challenge is way down at this point. I think my entry is pretty fun, yet I wonder how much better it would have been if I were really jazzed the whole month long. 

One of the often overlooked and unappreciated elements of PC equipment is the vehicle. I am excluding starships from this, although they would certainly qualify as 'rides'. I have written about such interstellar craft separately on a number of occasions, so I would prefer to open this up to other forms of travel. Here I am addressing more terrestrial, if sometimes unconventional, means of character conveyance.

Planes, trains, automobiles, and the like that are special both to the PCs and to their campaigns do not seem to be brought up as often as they once were. Have we lost our love affair with the super-car? I certainly hope not. I have fond memories as both a player and a Gamemaster of some very cool forms of PC transportation that have appeared in our games over the years.

The Crescent Moon (aka The Moon Flyer), from Champions: The Age of Chaos 

The personal vehicle of Night Force, the field leader of the New York City chapter of UNTIL's Project: UNITY, the Crescent Moon is one of the most advanced aerospace craft on Earth. Designed by Night Force himself using cutting edge technology both native and extraterrestrial, the 'Moon Flyer' (as it has been nicknamed) soars swiftly and absolutely silently on contra-gravity thrusters and specialty turbines. 

Painted with a unique material that enables the craft to absorb and manipulate light. The Moon Flyer can, for example, turn invisible or reflect light in a bright white, nearly blinding flash. From the ground below, the vehicle's underside can easily be mistaken for the actual moon in the night sky. 

The ship is largely automated and only requires a single pilot. It has room for perhaps one or two other people as the interior space of the craft is very limited. There is a small cargo area in the rear and a hatch on the bottom from which Night Force can descend [by ladder or leap]. 

The Crescent Moon has a number of weapons, defenses, and other gadgets, most of which are modular, enabling Night Force to switch them out for mission specific gear. 

Ecto-Plus (aka Ecto-1+), from Ghostbusters: The Home Office

With the original Ecto-1 used more for public appearances and PR, our team used a modern ambulance that had been heavily customized by the PCs. It included a Proton Particle Throwing Cannon mounted on a roof turret and operated from a gunner's seat in the back section of the vehicle.

Ghostbuster employee David Nelson kept advocating for an Ecto-Tank but Dr. Alex Thornton kept insisting the budget couldn't afford it. Apart from Dr. Ray Stantz's enthusiasm for the idea ("Just to see it happen!", he was quoted as saying), the team never got a clear Yea or Nay from Ghostbusters Central. 

Additional vehicles used by the team included a motorcycle with a detachable side car (Ecto-1c) and a converted Ice Cream truck (Ecto-1d) that had a miniature Containment Unit in place of it's refrigerator. These were only used on special occasions when the main vehicle was 'in the shop'. Additionally, the Ecto-1d was kind of experimental. 

The Metroliner, from Deeds Not Words: The Gods Wear Long Underwear 

One of my all time favorite RPG vehicles, the Metroliner was an independantly powered and operated subway train car owned by the street level superhero known as The Metropolitan. The Metroliner is highly modified and customized, capable of traveling through the New York City subway system at speeds far exceeding standard trains. It had a small control cabin, but as the rest of the car was of standard size, there was easily enough room for the rest of The Metropolitan's team and extra gear. 

Thanks to a specially designed navigation and override system, The Metropolitan can manipulate subway traffic to clear tracks and tunnels for a smoother, faster trip. He also has several secret stations and lengths of track that allow The Metroliner to disappear to make quick repairs. 

The engine of the Metroliner is extremely powerful and with the help of advanced magnetic cables, the vehicle can tow other forms of underground transportation up to and including a fully loaded subway train of a dozen cars or so. Other devices that the Metroliner is equipped with include fire extinguishers, mobile medical equipment, arc-welder/blowtorch, and a smoke screen ejector. A subway station headquarters/garage serves as the vehicle's housing and The Metropolitan's main base of operations. 

Blood, from The Legend of Boot Hill

While I have mentioned my Legend of Boot Hill game in the past, I can't seem to find a single post that references it in a way that would give this entry context. As such, if you're really interested in off beat Westerns, please feel free to search the blog using the Boot Hill or Wild West tags. That said...

There is a tall tale told by rancher, wrangler, and gunslinger alike, usually by a nighttime campfire and backed by the howling of unseen critters of the otherwise deserted regions of Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada, of an entity called The Red Rider and his horse, known simply as Blood.

It's body the color of cinnamon, covered from hoof to hind-quarters in brick-hued dust, with a mane and tail tinted a deep, dark rust, Blood is a horse like no other. Accounts of his size, speed, and strength vary and are probably exaggerated more with each telling.

All agree there is something unnatural about the beast and every description shares a nearly identical mention of the animal's eyes; large, glassy, black as pitch but surrounded by a red ring that almost seems to glow in the dark. Steam spews forth from its nose and mouth regardless of the temperature. Its hooves beat like thunder as it gallops but despite its size and weight, it can just as easily trot out of the shadows without even the slightest sound. 

The most disturbing thing about this creature is that, like its rider, it doesn't seem to die. Ever. For any reason. Witnesses have seen it shot by rifles, buried in a rockslide, and even gallop off a cliff as the Red Rider tried to get control of a runaway stage coach. Each time, the Red Rider and Blood reappear at some later place and time, appearing a bit worse for wear but alive and well...or whatever unholy state they're in that passes for such. 

In the decades that followed, as the locomotive, car, and other modern conveyances replaced the horse as our standard means of getting from one place to another, there were still stories told of a scarlet cowboy and his crimson steed that could be seen keeping pace with the great ironhorses of the Western rails.

Blood will always run.

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Barking Alien

B is for Boot Hil, Should The Young Men Go West?

Prior to this post, I have only tagged Boot Hill, the 1975 Wild West Role Playing Game created by Brian Blume, and Gary Gygax, and published by TSR, only once before on this blog.

I may have mentioned it briefly a few other times.

That's just wrong.

Hmmm. Wrong might be too strong a word. I'll explain...

Hold it right there partner.

I plum reckon there maybe some clarifications in order.

Before I get into this in depth, I want to note that this is both a Thorough Thursdays entry, and the second installment in the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. As you can tell, I'm batting a thousand. I am a week late for both entries, which should have been posted Thursday, April 2nd.

Oh well, life goes on.

On a positive note, the albatross around my neck has finally been removed. I can afford to see a movie once in a while, take a day off, that sort of thing. Not too often of course, but compared to the past several months, it's going to feel like a vacation.

 

***

Now, in addition to having only one post tagged with Boot Hill, only three have ever been tagged with the words 'Wild West'. You'll also notice that there is only one previous entry for Deadlands (even though I may have mentioned it more than once in passing).

Truth be told, I am not a huge fan of Westerns. It's not that I really dislike them per se, I just don't list them among my top five favorite genres. I guess I would put them above D&D, Sword & Sorcery, smorgasbord Fantasy, but below Medieval Folklore Fantasy.

It just ain't my thing, the way my things are my thing.

Still and all, there was that one time I ran a Boot Hill campaign and it was awesome. So awesome in fact that I never even tried to do it again. 

Boot Hill was perhaps the second or third RPG I ever played. It is also possibly the second or third game I ever laid eyes on. This was back in the day when you could count the number of RPGs in print on your fingers.

Unlike Dungeons & Dragons I had an immediate frame of reference for Boot Hill, having already seen many a Western film and TV program by the age of 10. My maternal grandfather (who we called Pop or Poppy) and my Dad were huge fans of the genre. I ended up absorbing the tropes and atmosphere by osmosis. Thanks to my Pop's love of cinema and my father's fascination for old things, I learned to love the generation of John Wayne pictures as much as those of Clint Eastwood.

Add to the mix Wild West tales in the form I understood best, comic books. From DC's Jonah Hex, Batlash, and Pow-Wow Smith to Marvel's Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid, Western comics were a staple part of my early collection. Actually, they were a staple of my cousin's collection, but I tended to read his comic books far more than he did.

All this exposure pooled together and helped me create one rootin' tootin', sure an' shootin' Wild West 'Boot Hill' campaign back in 1979.

Thirty-six years is a long time to wait for a sequel.

In my mind that means one of two things. Either, if I haven't made one yet that I don't need to make one. Some epics just don't need a '2'. That, or it's about time. Maybe even long overdue.

Sketch by Alan Robinson

 

As I toy around in my head with ideas for a new secondary campaign for my primary, New York group, the idea of a successor to my original Boot Hill campaign has crossed my thoughts more than a few times.

What do you think? Worth assembling a posse for, or should I just let the stage coach be on its way?

B is for Boot Hill

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Barking Alien

ReBoot Hill

One idea that keeps popping into my head lately is a return to the genre of the Western.

In a manner of speaking, a reboot of Boot Hill.

In the 37 years I've been gaming, I've only run a single Wild West campaign.

It was in 1979 I believe, I was about 10, and it's still one of my best campaigns I have ever done to this day.

The campaign featured a Masked Cowboy, a Native American Mystic, a Half-Black/Half-Mexican Gunslinger, a Yankee Dandy who was a Gambler, Swindler, and Snake Oil Salesman, and a honest-to-goodness Singing Cowboy (who sang and played guitar, giving various buffs to the team and debuffs to their enemies).

It featured ghosts, native spirits of the land, The Red Rider, coal burning steam machinery, and deal a with the devil.

In a discussion with one of my current players about my old 'Legend of Boot Hill' game, I listed a number of influences and inspirations for the campaign that would still apply if I ran it again today. As a matter of fact, I can think of very little I would add. My 'Wild West Appendix N' from 35 years ago would be pretty much identical to my 'Wild West Appendix N' now.

While there might be others, these are my primary inspirations for running a Wild West campaign:

All-Star Western and Western Comics from DC Comics
(Featuring Batlash, Cinnamon Star, Johnny Thunder, Nighthawk, 'Pow Wow' Smith, etc.)
Blazing Saddles (Motion Picture) (You can't NOT be influenced by Blazing Saddles)
Bonanza (Television Series)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Motion Picture)
Fistful of Dollars (Motion Picture)
Gunsmoke (Television Series)
Lone Ranger (Radio and Television)
Rawhide (Television Series)
The Magnificent Seven (Motion Picture)

The Wild West comic books are of particular note, since at the age of 10, they were my most accessible window into the genre and the period.

In addition to the DC Comics Western heroes, Marvel's Wild West characters were popular with my friends and I as well. Kid Colt, The Phantom Rider, Rawhide Kid, and the Two-Gun Kid, all played a part in helping me develop the kinds of NPC allies and enemies the PCs would face.

I remember reading a book with a number of ghost stories and local legends from the period that had a major impact on the kind of game I wanted to run. I wanted to infuse the setting with just enough strange and unexplained elements to separate it from a normal Western story, but not make it so obvious that the players felt they were playing a Fantasy RPG.

Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, a favorite, little known resource of mine, originally published in 1910, was another book that saw some use in the aforementioned campaign. The book is a bestiary of fantastic critters supposedly dwelling in the United States and Canada. It is a tome of American folklore and myth at it's finest and well worth a look. 

In the end, what is the final result of this post? Why am I really bringing it up? Am I just reminiscing, or has the time finally come to revisit this campaign setting?

Is this my online game, to be run over Google Hangouts?

Tarnation! You got me Hoss. Got to do some thinkin'.

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Barking Alien